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Aging is a natural part of life, but that hasn't stopped people from embarking on efforts to stop the process. Unfortunately, perhaps, those attempts are futile, according to University of Arizona researchers who have proved that it's mathematically impossible to halt aging in multicellular organisms like humans. "Aging is mathematically inevitable - like, seriously inevitable. There's logically, theoretically, mathematically no way out," said Joanna Masel, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and at the UA.
Masel and UA postdoctoral researcher Paul Nelson outline their findings on math and aging in a new study titled "Intercellular Competition and Inevitability of Multicellular Aging," published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Current understanding of the evolution of aging leaves open the possibility that aging could be stopped if only science could figure out a way to make selection between organisms perfect. One way to do that might be to use competition between cells to eliminate poorly functioning "sluggish" cells linked to aging, while keeping other cells intact. However, the solution isn't that simple, Masel and Nelson say.
Two things happen to the body on a cellular level as it ages, Nelson explains. One is that cells slow down and start to lose function, like when your hair cells, for example, stop making pigment. The other thing that happens is that some cells crank up their growth rate, which can cause cancer cells to form. As we get older, we all tend, at some point, to develop cancer cells in the body, even if they're not causing symptoms, the researchers say. Masel and Nelson found that even if natural selection were perfect, aging would still occur, since cancer cells tend to cheat when cells compete.
https://phys.org/news/2017-10-mathematically-impossible-aging-scientists.html
[Abstract]: Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular aging
So, either you die of old age or you die of cancer. Choose wisely !!
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday October 31 2017, @10:39AM (6 children)
Doesn't this fail to account for the 'immortal jellyfish' [wikipedia.org], which is able to 'loop back around' with its life-cycle and become a polyp again?
I see someone already mentioned this in a question on the phys.org page. [phys.org]
Wikipedia tells me that, [wikipedia.org] contrary to what the Internet would have us believe, lobsters aren't immortal.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @12:58PM (1 child)
There are more examples in biology where we don't know if a species could live forever (a "running gag" among biologists is that there is always an exception in biology). A ex-colleague of mine did his PhD on a gene that was able to reset an annual (Arabidopsis) back to juvenile stage. Normally these plants terminate their live after 6-8 weeks (after shedding their seeds). I think he had a plant growing over and over again for over a year, collected multiple times seeds from that plant.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @09:40PM
Could this works on cannabis?
(Score: 2) by Ken_g6 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @02:34PM (2 children)
I think that if you, as a human, were able to do that, you'd lose all your current brain cells in the process and you wouldn't be "you" anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @02:42PM
That's the solution to the DNA rot problem AND the DNA not evolving problem, and as far as the species goes, it works well enough.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:43PM
Would you want to live as "you" forever? Things would get boring. Controlled reincarnation doesn't sound to shabby.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 31 2017, @03:51PM
Maybe not lobsters, but some species of Antarctic krill do the reverse aging thing every winter.
🌻🌻 [google.com]